Giving the Gift of Time Through Handicrafts? (Not an advertising thread)

Dear users, dear authors,
is it true that when you give handmade gifts, you’re giving the gift of time? Is that appreciated?

I have to answer with a clear “YES AND NO.”

People who do crafts themselves—no matter what kind—appreciate it. They see the work and the love that went into it and are delighted. Those are the people I most enjoy giving handmade gifts to.

For some others, not so much. You sometimes hear: “Why don’t you just buy that? You can get it cheap anyway.” By the way, those people won’t be getting any more handmade gifts from me.

Then there’s the category of recipients who are genuinely happy and overjoyed, but also have no idea how much work really went into it. These are also the ones who always eagerly place orders with me and then wait a long time for a gift, simply because they love receiving handmade items.

I totally agree with Pe-Ka: Yes and no.

There are people who absolutely appreciate it and are thrilled by even the tiniest item.
Luckily, most people in my circle are like that, and they’re the ones I love giving gifts to the most.

  I haven’t experienced any totally negative reactions like, “Why don’t you just buy that?!” yet… But there are people who are happy to receive it but still don’t realize how much work went into it. Then they’ll say, “Oh, cool. Can you make … to go with it?”

But as a piece of advice to anyone used to negative reactions: Don’t make life hard on yourselves. We “crafters” often really want to give everyone something handmade. I know this from my own experience—I always start by thinking about what I can crochet for someone… and you can see that in how often people ask for tips in forums and such about what to crochet, knit, or make for someone who isn’t into that sort of thing. But if you’re pretty sure it won’t be well-received anyway, then maybe you should just skip it. That way, you’ll save yourself a ton of time, money, and—most importantly—frustration and hassle :) 

Like the previous posters, I see it as a clear “yes and no.”
Anyone who’s ever knitted or crocheted a scarf, socks, etc., knows how much time and effort goes into it.
I once had a boyfriend (a long, long time ago...)—I knitted him a sweater, and he was so happy he almost cried. That was, of course, a wonderful feeling for me. 
Or the chemo hats I knitted for my dad—he wore them every day during his chemo.
My husband, on the other hand, doesn’t really appreciate handmade items. He prefers things he’s “bought himself.” I love him anyway ;-)))
But hey, people are just different, and that’s a good thing after all.
:-)

You shouldn’t go around giving everyone homemade gifts at any cost, though. I do think it’s more personal because you’ve also given the gift of “time,” but someone who doesn’t do crafts might not always appreciate that. Many people even think you’re just trying to save money (!) by making things yourself.

My little grandchildren, for example, don’t care at all whether a stuffed animal or a hat is handmade or not, but sometimes they ask me to make something special that you can’t buy, and then they’re proud because no one else has it.

I think what’s special about handmade items is, above all, that you can tailor them entirely to the recipient’s personal taste (color, pattern, shape, material...). But if someone really isn’t into crafts (which is mostly men, I suppose), then you should respect that—after all, the point of a gift is to bring joy.

And the time? I don’t really worry about that, because I usually only make things I genuinely enjoy making. After all, crafting is my hobby and shouldn’t turn into a source of stress!

I’ve decided to only give handmade gifts to those people whom I know for sure will truly be happy to receive them and appreciate the work and effort that went into them (even if they might not be able to make such things themselves).
With these dear people, I really enjoy coming up with new ideas, picking out beautiful materials, and finding a great pattern to go with them—nothing is too expensive for me, and hardly any effort is too much, because the anticipation alone is a great motivation and reward for me. :-D

But then, unfortunately, there are also people who just can’t appreciate handmade gifts—my dad, for example, only values things that cost money (and handmade gifts don’t cost anything!) Or an acquaintance of mine, for instance, has absolutely no idea how much effort and work goes into these things; she thinks it’s all quick and easy (basically like “buying it yourself”) and, besides, she figures I have nothing else to do in the evenings anyway and plenty of time for stuff like that :-( That’s not so nice...